- How about some little pointers to interesting things for a Monday, since I need to close some tabs? I took the weekend off (gasp) (bliss), and we finally went to see Thor: The Dark World. I loved it. If you like beautiful men, well-written women, and superhero movies that aren't afraid to be funny, go see it.
- Justine Musk did a TedxWomen's talk that is a must read, about women owning their confidence and the art of the deep yes.
- Rick Riordan has an incredibly smart post about publishing and why connections matter little, ultimately.
- The Someday My Printz Will Come blog over at SLJ is heating up as we approach ALA Midwinter and the awards announcements. While I don't always agree with the assessments of this book or that book, the posts and discussion are always thoughtful and well worth checking out. The Eleanor & Park post is a good place to start. (Love that book. Looove it–and I am in the Yes, this is definitely award-worthy camp.)
- The Story of the Lost Paleozoic Museum.
- A look at the daily routines of various creatives and the commonalities therein.
- Men and women's brains inherently different? Not so fast; individual differences are greater.
- Heather Havrilevsky writes about Nora Ephron as influential writer of new journalism, constrasting her with Joan Didion: "When life gave Ephron lemons, in other words, she made a giant vat of really good vodka-spiked lemonade and invited all of her friends and her friends’ friends over to share it, and gossip, and play charades."
- Over on twitter, Laura Miller linked to this fabulous interview she did in 2011 with editor Robert Gottlieb, which is funny and filled with great stuff.
- And, finally, Jenny Crusie being crazytastic smart as usual, this time on when character deaths work and when they don't. Yes, yes, yes. When I first read this post, I got it completely, and also understood immediately why so many animal deaths in books just make readers angry (including this one)–because they are only emotionally resonant, but don't matter to the story. Yes.